Robocarp, Dolphins and Swimware
I found some random articles relating to robotic or augmented marine life. All this worked its way back to something I read 15 years ago.
Firstly, over at Wired “A New line of swimware” talks about robocarp. This robotic fish that can swim around and do fish style things. This all sounds like science fiction. So, the movie plot: There’s a mad scientist trying to send payloads of poison, or bombs, or attack people with robotic fish or cyborg dolphins !!
But wait, previously ..
- Armed attack dolphins loose in the Gulf of Mexico?
- Armed and dangerous – Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina
- Then some follow ups MSNBC -Dispelling a myth of dangerous Navy dolphins
- ‘Flipper’ Fights Saddam, Looks for Mines
A lot of discussion, both humorous and serious, happened on the slashdot article Armed Dolphins Released Into Gulf of Mexico.
So I’m not sure what the “truth” is but I like the story.
Mind you, a little more hunting unveils Military Marine Mammal stuff (from a .Mil site !)
So in trying to find some coherence in all this .. I remember the William Gibson short story Johnny Mnemonic has a Military modified Dolphin called “Jones”. This bizarre synaptic episode was a memory for me of how science fiction brings out ideas that other people decide to do at some point. The robocarp was just the catalyst to assoiciating the ideas, and follow the trail back to where I’d heard about this kind of stuff.